It was pathetic. The only reason the Soviets "won" is the Finns ran out of bullets. A 10:1 kill ratio is something most armies can only dream of. IIRC, there was at least one battle where the kill ratio was something like 30:1, and some Finns had to leave the lines because they were having nervous breakdowns from killing so many defenseless Russian soldiers.

It was the first battle around the Mannerheim Line. The machine gunners had to be rotated.

So, can you perhaps tell me: Is the REAL reason anyone was afraid of the Red Army during the Cold War only because they would keep coming until you ran out of things to kill them with? Because my research seems to indicate that nobody who faced them in combat was inferior in any way but numerically. Even in the Battle of Berlin, I know the Wehrmacht had a 4:1 kill ratio, and that was when the German Army consisted of invalids, old men and schoolboys. Who were we so scared of?

Stalin had just purged the Army of mass quantities of experienced officers. That tends to reduce your performance when suddenly thrown into combat, either on the attack (Winter War) or on the defensive (against Germany).

It was pathetic. The only reason the Soviets "won" is the Finns ran out of bullets. A 10:1 kill ratio is something most armies can only dream of. IIRC, there was at least one battle where the kill ratio was something like 30:1, and some Finns had to leave the lines because they were having nervous breakdowns from killing so many defenseless Russian soldiers.

It was the first battle around the Mannerheim Line. The machine gunners had to be rotated.

So, can you perhaps tell me: Is the REAL reason anyone was afraid of the Red Army during the Cold War only because they would keep coming until you ran out of things to kill them with? Because my research seems to indicate that nobody who faced them in combat was inferior in any way but numerically. Even in the Battle of Berlin, I know the Wehrmacht had a 4:1 kill ratio, and that was when the German Army consisted of invalids, old men and schoolboys. Who were we so scared of?

It wasn't the immediate battle that many feared, it was the aftermath if the Russians won that everybody was worried about. Civilian and soldier alike.